Chapter 28 Summary

Chapter 28 opens with a brief glimpse back at the NUMA headquarters, where Rudi Gunn learns of the disappearance of the Sea Rover, which is no longer transmitting a GPS signal. Meanwhile, on the Sea Rover, and trapped in the hold, the crew frantically fights for their lives as water fills the hold. They try to use braces to open the heavy overhead doors, but those do not work. At the last possible moment, someone discovers the escape hatch that Dirk Pitt unlocked in the previous chapter. Some of them escape, run to a crane, and use the train to lift the overhead doors, saving everyone. Unable to alert anyone to their situation because the communication system was destroyed, the scientists board their lifeboats and evacuate the ship moments before it sinks beneath the waves.